193 A R. POR. T R. AT LAR.G PARIS, NOVEMBER 10 S INCE President Johnson called off the bombing of North VIetnam on October 31st, pushIng the Paris peace talks toward a new phase, it has become increasingly apparen t here that what happens in South Vietnam during this period will be at least as important as what happens at the conference tahle or behind the scenes in Paris. Paris, in one sense, win serve as a screen onto which the even ts in Vietnam, both political and military, are projected. It will be some- what as if a stage play and a film of a single story were being presented sImu1taneously, and the audience-the rest of the world-had to determine which was the more meaningful per- formance. Something like this has been occurring during the last month, and has perplexed everyone, creating new doubts about the ability, and even the desire, of men to order their affairs and speak with each other in ways that can promote understanding. To say that the confusion has been mainly a matter of semantics is too simple- though the different meanings given specIfic words and phrases b) the parties involved have played a large part in compounding that confusion. More sig- nifican t has been the political purpose behind the obfuscation, the purpose not only of each of the major parties in- volved-the Americans, the North Vietnamese, the National Liheration Front, and the Saigon government-but also of each of a number of moderators. Among these are the Russians, who are believed to have been in- strumental in persuading Hanoi to modify its earli- er InsIstence on an unre- ciprocated and permanent bombIng halt, and, to a lesser extent, the French., who, as hosts, have acted with aplomb and courtes} in stimulatIng private dia- logues here between the representatives of Wash- ington and of Hanoi. It was these dialogues, in progress for weeks apart from the formal meetings, that led to compromises that have now theoretical- ly elevated thE' discussIons from the level of propa- ganda duels to the level of substantive negotiation over ways of achieving peace on the ground in SEATS AT THE TABLE South VIetnam and In the hearts and IDInds of the various groups in conflict there. It is the latter factor, of course, dependent as it is upon what those en- gaged in the protracted struggle still expect to achieve in terms of political power or mere survIval, that has been the vital subjective element all along, here in Paris for the last five months and in Vietnam itself for the last several years and especially during the last year. O N the basis of what I have ob- served in Paris during the past fortnight, and what has been happen- ing in the United States and else- where, the current scenario (a favorite word among .Americans at the nego- tiations) can be described as follows: The North Vietnamese, having de- cided a month or more ago, for vari- ous reasons, to negotiate seriously in- stead of just asserting that negotiations were desirable, reluctantly made some secret admIssions and concessions that defined the lu}] in fighting during Sep- tember dnd October as amounting to a pullback of their forces. These con- cessions, which were tantamount to a political signal to vVashington, included something less than Hanoi's previous demand for a completely unconditional hombing halt. Hanoi has consistently , . \ tl .... . 1- ).-:0, $':: 'J l <'<- ....... .)s..,.. refused to adlDit, publicly or privately, that it agreed eIther formally or tacitly to any kind of recIprocity in return for thE' cessdtion of the bombing, but it did let the Americans know privately that, in the event of a halt, certain "circum- stances" would obtain; i.e., thE' with- drawal of its troops northward across the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Vietnam. According to the Americans, Hanoi and vVashington also agreed privately to seat delegates from the National Liberation Front and from the South Vietnamese government, but not as separate entities. The North VietnalDese, on the other hand, main- taIn that the American interpretation of what took place in the secret meet- ings is, in polite terms, a "subjectivist" one, or, in less polite terms, simply " f b . d " A . a a ncate one. t any rate, It soon became apparent that the tel ms of the arrangement had been inade- quately worked out, and that what- ever deal had been madE' meant dif- ferent things to the two major parties as well as to their separate Vietnamese a s()cia tes. The South Vietnamese, ha ving been apprised in ad vance of the bOlDbing-halt announcement and of the proposed seating plan, and hav- ing known for some weeks that such an arrangement was imminent, sud- denly balked For reasons best known to President Nguyen Van Thieu-a i - J \ I ' \ .. .ø# ^ ..... Ç... ' ij /" :"1 .- ..11 LIlt _ "IL n!J I -' . .. ... _ # --v, , , 1'''' i J....J , )(P"'dII 1 T 1IRII (( (-1'-1 course at the ^ ew ,- chool'-that's your answer to everytlzing!"